So you have created a new resume, and you are very proud of it. You have listed your skills, mentioned how hard-working and honest you are, and written the humongous number of responsibilities you have at your current job, complemented well by equivalent and expansive lists of responsibilities in your previous roles as well. You have used a high contrast colour scheme, inserted a cool-looking table, and distributed the information into 3 columns using objects and text boxes to not only make the resume look aesthetic and modern, but also show-off your MS Word formatting skills. You have shown the new resume to your friends and colleagues, and succeeded in eliciting oohs and aahs from them. Everyone has complemented you on the radical style and colouring, and how great it looks.
This will surely get you short-listed for that position that opened up and that you have been eyeing for the past 4 months, right?
Wrong.
As mentioned in a previous post, fancy formatting can be a negative, as it can not only confuse keyword-searching HR software, but also distract a time-pressed recruiter from actually reading the contents of your resume to understand why you fit the role best.
So, what makes a resume standout from the crowd then?
Just as you should never judge a book by its cover, a good recruiter or manager knows that you cannot evaluate a resume simply by how it looks. Yes, clean and crisp formatting that dissects the resume into easy-to-find sections with clear and legible fonts is a must, but it is really the content that matters the most. The company is not going to recruit a candidate based on his resume-designing skills, but rather show interest on the candidate’s drive, competencies, experience and achievements.
1. Technical Skills vs. Soft Skills – A resume should highlight all your technical skills and core competencies. It is, however, not the platform to list your soft skills and qualities such as honesty, perseverance, dedication and outgoingness. Every candidate claims to be all this and much more, and listing such attributes only lowers the value of the resume. An honest candidate is never going to say that he loves playing a few levels of Candy Crush at least once every 60 minutes.
2. Achievements vs. Responsibilities – The manager looking to hire a new candidate is not really interested in reading the responsibilities of your current and previous roles. If they want, they can always look up the job descriptions of your positions at the respective employers’ websites. What they are really interested in is what you achieved from those responsibilities, and how your accomplishments set you apart from the rest of the candidates with similar backgrounds who have applied for the same role.
3. Facts vs. Claims – Anyone can claim that they helped their companies achieve significant increase in business and revenues. What gives weightage to such statements are concrete facts and figures – names of important clients, value of business brought in, percentage of increase in revenue, and approximate time period during which the mentioned increase was achieved. Giving hard facts raises the credibility of statements manifold.
What to (seriously) avoid:
Writing or updating your resume might seem like a daunting task after reading and absorbing the plethora of do’s and don’ts on the internet, but it really isn’t that difficult. Think of yourself as a product, and the resume as a marketing medium. Put yourself in the recruiter’s shoes, and ask yourself what you would like to see on the resumes of potential candidates sending their applications to you.
If still confused, contact me, and I’ll help you draft a truly standout resume!
Wrong.
As mentioned in a previous post, fancy formatting can be a negative, as it can not only confuse keyword-searching HR software, but also distract a time-pressed recruiter from actually reading the contents of your resume to understand why you fit the role best.
So, what makes a resume standout from the crowd then?
Just as you should never judge a book by its cover, a good recruiter or manager knows that you cannot evaluate a resume simply by how it looks. Yes, clean and crisp formatting that dissects the resume into easy-to-find sections with clear and legible fonts is a must, but it is really the content that matters the most. The company is not going to recruit a candidate based on his resume-designing skills, but rather show interest on the candidate’s drive, competencies, experience and achievements.
1. Technical Skills vs. Soft Skills – A resume should highlight all your technical skills and core competencies. It is, however, not the platform to list your soft skills and qualities such as honesty, perseverance, dedication and outgoingness. Every candidate claims to be all this and much more, and listing such attributes only lowers the value of the resume. An honest candidate is never going to say that he loves playing a few levels of Candy Crush at least once every 60 minutes.
2. Achievements vs. Responsibilities – The manager looking to hire a new candidate is not really interested in reading the responsibilities of your current and previous roles. If they want, they can always look up the job descriptions of your positions at the respective employers’ websites. What they are really interested in is what you achieved from those responsibilities, and how your accomplishments set you apart from the rest of the candidates with similar backgrounds who have applied for the same role.
3. Facts vs. Claims – Anyone can claim that they helped their companies achieve significant increase in business and revenues. What gives weightage to such statements are concrete facts and figures – names of important clients, value of business brought in, percentage of increase in revenue, and approximate time period during which the mentioned increase was achieved. Giving hard facts raises the credibility of statements manifold.
What to (seriously) avoid:
- Beginning bullet points with “Responsible for…” – You were responsible for it, but did you carry out the responsibility as expected?
- Spelling and grammatical errors – Are you using unsightly contractions, unexplained abbreviations, wrong verb tenses, and SMS-lingo in professional correspondence?
- Clichés and wrong metaphors – “Tremendous intellectual horsepower”. Seriously?
- Hobbies and interests – Do you really want your potential boss to know that you love motorbike racing over the weekends, and might not show up at work regularly due to accidents?
- 1- or 2-word bullets – Enough said! (Doesn’t make sense, does it?)
- Fluff – If you can say something effectively in 7 words, don’t use 70.
- Interpretations – If you accomplished something, don’t say, “This shows my leadership, business development and financial acumen.” Respect the reader, and let them do the interpretations.
Writing or updating your resume might seem like a daunting task after reading and absorbing the plethora of do’s and don’ts on the internet, but it really isn’t that difficult. Think of yourself as a product, and the resume as a marketing medium. Put yourself in the recruiter’s shoes, and ask yourself what you would like to see on the resumes of potential candidates sending their applications to you.
If still confused, contact me, and I’ll help you draft a truly standout resume!